For instructions on how to kasher your kitchen, click here.

Is It Kosher?
Here is a four page letter from Rabbi Lopatin, which answers questions about dairy products, reliable hechers, fruits, and vegetables, and more!

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COMMUNITY STANDARDS OF KASHRUT

17 March
10 Adar II 5768

Update on the Half-Moon K: Acceptable! and lettuce with Hashgacha.

Dear members of the Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Community,

In an effort to create a community standard of kashrut, where we can all eat in each other's homes and enjoy each other's hospitality, we are also enclosing a new, updated, wallet-sized list of the approved labels which signify reliable kashruth supervision. If a product has rabbinic supervision, you can tell based on a symbol somewhere on the package. My gratitude to Kashruth Magazine for listing kashruth labels available in America . My gratitude as well to the rabbis from all over the world with whom I consult regularly in order to determine which supervisions are reliable. The following outlines the Community Standard of Kashrut for Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation.  Not all of it corresponds to the Chicago Rabbinical Council’s rulings.

What makes a supervision unreliable?
The supervisor, or supervising agency, may rely on certain leniencies within the law which the contemporary Orthodox community of today does not to rely on. Sometimes our standards of observance change over time, and the supervising authority needs to keep up with the accepted halacha of today, not just what was deemed OK many years ago. In addition the supervisor may not be careful enough on the lines that he or she is in charge of: not purposely giving hashgacha to a non-kosher product, but not meeting communal standards of oversight, Some supervisors have apparent attitude problems - they may be too clever for their own good - which seem to prevent them from correcting errors which demand attention and are immediately addressed by a more reliable organization. Even fancy titles such as "Chief Rabbinate of Mexico " do not ensure reliable supervision. Rather, personal integrity and hard, careful work are what makes a supervision reliable.

Best Kosher and Hebrew National
Best's Kosher, Shofar, and Hebrew National meats do not meet community standards. Best's Kosher relies on leniencies regarding the lungs of the animals it processes, leniencies that are below the standards of the Orthodox community. Hebrew National, now under the Triangle K, still has not gained the confidence of the Orthodox community, but according to reliable sources they have significantly upgraded their standards. Neither product is flat-out treif, but, they are not currently up to the standard that the community should be keeping.

Products from Israel
Products from Israel , under rabbi nical supervision, are reliable, and I would encourage all of us to purchase products from Israel whenever possible. However, you must make sure that the product does not contain gelatin (even "kosher" gelatin). The Rabbinate in Israel accepts a different standard regarding gelatin than the Ashkenazic Orthodox community has accepted here in the Diaspora. If you live in Israel you should feel free to follow their ruling. But in our community, the standard is not to allow any gelatin from non-kosher, or non-shechted animals. The only gelatin-type product which is

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